Ms. Fang Yu was sentenced to a six and a half year prison term for practising Falun Gong. She was arrested on July 2nd, 2013, and is being tortured. She is unable to eat or drink due to the abuse. She has become emaciated and is in critical condition. Despite her deteriorating health, she was sentenced to a six and a half year prison term. She has appealed to the Tongling City Intermediate Court.

I was shocked to learn on the Minghui website about a talented Qinghua University student named Ms. Liu Zhimei. She was persecuted to insanity in a prison under the Chinese communist regime. I witnessed other practitioners being persecuted while I was imprisoned over the last few years. One was 60-year-old Ms. Chen Xiaoyue. Due to the intense persecution, Ms. Chen was “reformed” [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] by the communist regime and gave up her faith in Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance. The police then forced her to help reform other practitioners and torture them if they refused to cooperate. Ms. Chen was later diagnosed with "manic psychosis."

Ms. Sun Lijun went to Tiananmen Square to peacefully protest the persecution. She recounts her experience: "Several fellow practitioners and I were sent to a police station in Beijing. Because I refused to tell them my address, three policemen stripped off my clothes, leaving me in only my underwear. They hung me up by my hands. Four officer shocked me with electric batons at the same time. They shocked my head, teeth, nipples, private area, hands, and legs. Since I would not give in, they dragged me to the yard and hung me from a pole, with my feet not touching the ground. They hung me outside for a long time in the cold. Then they took me back to the room and hung me up again. They tortured me nonstop."

Beautiful fairy maidens dancing so elegantly against the wondrous settings of the Fairy Lake; the legendary monkey king with penetrating eyesight catching monsters and devils on a pilgrimage to the west seeking Buddhist scriptures; the loyal and patriotic general Yue Fei battling his enemies in an ancient war-torn battle field—these are a few scenes from Shen Yun Performing Arts, which revives 5,000 years of traditional Chinese culture through breathtaking dance and music. Yet for promoting such a remarkable performance to the Chinese people, Mr. Jiang Wenshang from Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province was unjustly sentenced to seven years in prison. He is currently incarcerated in Jiamusi Prison.

Ms. Hu Yanmin is a 55-year-old factory owner from Yingkou City, Liaoning Province. She never hesitates to help those in need and is well regarded by her family, friends, and employees. Like millions of others in China, Ms. Hu has been persecuted for her belief in Falun Gong. She recounts: "I was tending to my elderly mother in my second-floor apartment, located in my factory building, when police pried open a window and jumped inside on September 28th, 2012. They turned my home upside down and confiscated my computer, printer, more than 1,000 yuan in cash, and my Falun Gong books. Despite my mother's pleas, they took me away. The police drove me to the local detention centre. Because my blood pressure was dangerously high they released me but the police demanded 30,000 yuan from my family. They did not give them any receipt."

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Chen was reported to the police when she was seen distributing free DVDs about Falun Gong and the persecution to the public near Zhongxin Market on March 3rd, 2013. She was arrested and then interrogated by police. Ms. Chen Guilan was put on trial on August 9th at Shuangta Court in Chaoyang City. Her lawyer gave a strong defence for her in the court and requested that an importance piece of evidence be played in the court to support his client's innocence - one of the DVDs on the persecution of Falun Gong. However, the judge refused his request, giving all sorts of excuses.

Practitioners and other prisoners held in the Jincheng City Detention Station in Shanxi Province are forced to do extremely demanding slave labour regardless of their age, gender, or physical conditions. Detainees have been exposed to poisonous chemical dyes for extended periods, due to unhealthy work conditions, and now have swollen faces and show symptoms of dizziness. The detainees must rise at 6:00 a.m. and begin making bundles of flowers. They have a daily quota to fill, and it takes more than 14 hours each day to finish the daily quota. The detainees are regularly beaten, cursed at, and otherwise physically abused.

Ms. Qi Fengmin was arrested by local police on April 9th, 2013, and now faces trial and unjust sentencing by the Chinese Communist regime. She had previously been arrested in July 2008, and wrongfully imprisoned for five years. Ms. Qi's relatives were heartbroken upon seeing Ms. Qi's younger daughter crying about losing her mother once again. They know very well how badly their hearts were hurt by the multiple arrests, and they were on the brink of a mental collapse. They knew their sister, Ms. Qi, was subjected to inhumane torture during the five years of wrongful imprisonment, and they firmly believed in her innocence.

Falun Gong practitioner Ms. Shen Wenling was arrested on February 25th, 2008 and was sent to the city detention centre. She was subjected to many forms of abuse and torture, including beatings, the “tiger bench” and force-feeding during the three-month detention. She was then sentenced to five years imprisonment and was sent to Liaoning Women's Prison on May 27th, 2008. In prison, she was beaten and subjected to brainwashing and other tortures.

Many years ago, I was arrested by the Chinese police for talking to people about Falun Gong. I was sent to the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, where I was forced to do slave labour. In 2005, I witnessed another Falun Gong practitioner – 33-year-old Ms. Li Baojie from Panjin City – being tortured to death at the forced labour camp. Ms. Li Baojie had been on hunger stike to protest the prsecution. Guards and inmates sat on top of Ms. Li and stepped on her arms, legs and feet with leather boots. While pinching Ms. Li's nose to prevent her from breathing, a doctor force-fed Ms. Li. Under the stress of the guards' abuse, her whole body turned purple and she died shortly after.

Xuchang Third Forced Labour Camp is one of the places set up by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to persecute Falun Gong practitioners. The guards not only make practitioners do slave labour, but also used various brutal tortures to transform [forcibly renounce Falun Gong] them. When a practitioner refused to be transformed, the guards torture him with various means, including solitary confinement, “tiger bench,” handcuffing, roping, electric shock, scalding with hot water and lit cigarettes, sleep deprivation and severe beatings.

Falun Gong practitioner Mr. Zhang Wei was arrested in October 2005 and later sentenced to 10 years in prison for tapping into a local cable TV network to explain the facts about Falun Gong to the public and expose the persecution [ Ed. Note: Due to the Chinese regime's persecution of Falun Gong, including a relentless campaign of defamation, and because all normal avenues of communication are closed to them, Falun Gong practitioners in China have had to resort to creative means to expose the persecution and get the truth out to the public ]. During the time that he was detained in prison Mr. Zhang was brutally tortured by the guards and he is extremely weak.

Jiamusi Prison in Heilongjiang Province is one of many prisons in China where prisoners are exploited as cheap labour to sort and package different kinds of products. Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned there are no exception from this type of exploitation. The prison received a shipment of popsicle sticks, toothpicks and disposable chopsticks in late 2012. The prisoners were then forced to sort and package them.

Dr. Li Yanjun, an associate professor at the Southwest Petroleum University, was arrested on June 26th, 2013, and taken to the Luzhou Detention Centre, because he practised Falun Gong. His family was notified by officials from the Luzhou Domestic Security Division on July 25th, a month after his arrest, that he had been released under surveillance. However, he was instead taken to the Xinjin Brainwashing Centre for further persecution.

Xu Xiuhui, 64, suffered unimaginable torture in Hezuizhi Forced Labour Camp due to practising Falun Gong. She recounts: "On the second day after I entered the labour camp, and for the next three days, guard Wui Dan ordered the inmates to bring me to the classroom in the morning. They shocked me with an electric baton throughout the morning, sometimes with three electric batons together. As I lay on the ground semi-conscious, Li Lianying shocked the centres of the bottoms of my feet. They shocked me until my entire body shook and quivered and I wasn't able to stand up. Afterwards I lay on the cold concrete floor for several hours in the cold winter."